


Twenty Things The Ace And I Tried To Put On The Rearcart

by Tokumeisan



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Again, Hijinks, M/M, well well I'm late for BPS submissions, why does that always happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-26 10:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1684847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tokumeisan/pseuds/Tokumeisan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Takao doesn't really know why he puts up with Midorima, especially when he's trying to get Takao to refurnish the rearcart into a moving palace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twenty Things The Ace And I Tried To Put On The Rearcart

 

 

1\. The Bicycle

 

  "Really, Midorima?"

  "You have lost," Midorima pushes his glasses further up his nose, "and so you must pay."

  Takao glances at the rear cart his classmate dragged all the way to the traffic intersection with distaste. He was easygoing- he _liked_ to think of himself as easygoing, but chaperoning someone on a  rearcart  through morning traffic and incoming waves of students would've tried anyone's patience. That was going  _completely _ overboard, for god's sake. "You sound like an evil overlord."

  "You," Midorima intones prissily as he gets into the rearcart expectantly, "shouldn't have promised to obey my every wish if you weren't prepared to lose that competition. That was foolish, as well as irresponsible." He leans on the side of the rearcart. "Well, Takao?"

  A passing child and parent stare at them. The mother ushers the boy away hurriedly. Not that Takao minds that particularly, of course. He just happened to catch that on his peripheral sight. "I'm not even sure if my bicycle can take that much weight."

  Midorima folds his arms. "When is your birthday?"

  "November the twenty-first," Takao answers, and tries not to mind too much when two girls approximately his little sister's age point and laugh at them behind him. "Can we save the icebreaker activities for later, though?"

  "According to Oha-asa," Midorima pushes up his glasses again, looking completely serious, and Takao tries very, very hard not to laugh, "Scorpio ranks second today, with marked success in all new endeavors."

  "If I had marked success in all new endeavors I wouldn't have lost to you."

  "It's natural that you lost," Midorima crosses his legs on the rearcart. Takao imagines wood was rather hard to be comfortable on, and he was gripped by a desire to pitch Midorima off the rearcart. Concrete might be better beneath his bottom. "Your skill is far below mine- and besides, you have not done everything in your power to win."

  It was at times like these that Takao was truly reminded of why he managed to harbor a burning vengeance towards Midorima for two years and a half. "What makes you think I didn't take that seriously, honest?"

  Midorima looks at his watch, and Takao looks at his phone. The extra fifteen minutes that Takao had reserved for whatever ridiculous demand Takao imagined Midorima could come up with was fast running out. "You did not have your lucky item or your lucky color with you yesterday, for example."

 "I-  what ?" 

  "That much can be assumed with confidence. I did not see fuschia on you yesterday. I, on the other hand, had more luck in the presence of water signs. I myself being one, it worked out very well for me- and I see you are one too." Midorima looks ridiculously self-satisfied. It takes Takao a few seconds to realize Midorima was talking about horoscopes, and when he finally reaches that conclusion, he bursts out in laughter. "I do not see the humor. You can stop stalling, Takao; luck will not favor you that much, as opposed to I, who have done everything in my power."

  "That, and we're running late." Takao grudgingly hooks his trusty bike onto the  rearcart  and gets onto the bicycle seat. "Sit tight, princess; Takao-chan's  gonna take you to the ball!"

  Midorima splutters until they get to the next intersection. "I don't see any fluorescent colors on you," he mutters sulkily, and Takao has to catch his breath.

 

2\. The Bike Light

 

  "I'm biking you home at night?" Takao is two thirds perplexed and one third outraged when Midorima hands him a clip-on bike light. It's an expensive looking bike light, with streamlined edges and fancy-looking leather-ish covering.  Takao wonders where he got it.

  "Every whim of mine," Midorima reminds him smugly. "I don't want you crashing us both into a lamppost after practice."

  Takao massages his temples. It's good leg training, he tells himself.

  It's still going to be a long first year of high school.

 

3\. The  D rinks  Rack

 

  "What's that for, Shin-chan?" Takao asks one week into his employment as chauffeur, innocent voice tinged with creeping worry. Midorima was holding a toolbox and a suspiciously metal looking frame.

  Midorima's eye twitches. "That name is absurdly silly." he bristles, and Takao smiles winningly. It was an unfortunate turn of events that landed him a job as r earcart puller, but he wasn't going to let that get him down. It was probably his own good fortune that Midorima was so straight-laced, and an even greater stroke of luck that his retorts were hilariously ridiculous.

  "It suits you," he chirps, and when Midorima's eye starts to look like it can't handle that much twitching, "so, what brings you to Takao-chan at lunch break? It's one we don't have practice on, and I was assuming you didn't want to hang out. "

  "That name is even more frivolous," Midorima mutters, and Takao's grin expands, "I want you to install a drink rack on the rearcart ." and Takao's grin falls.

  "A drink rack," Takao repeats, just in case he got it wrong. He glances warily at the proffered toolbox. "What for, the shiruko cans you carry around every day?"

  "You are more perceptive than I give you credit for," Midorima admits grudgingly, but the little spark of affection Takao feels for Midorima quickly dies when Midorima commands, "Get it done before afternoon practice."

 

4\. The Cooler

 

  "So is this for our use, Shin-chan, or is it for the shiruko?" Takao inquires. It's four days after Takao somehow managed to artlessly nail the rack onto the side of the rearcart , and Midorima had thankfully made no complaints for the days after. 

  "The shiruko, you dolt," Midorima snaps, and that was that.

  But he lets Takao chill his water in the little blue box anyway, and doesn't glare too much when Takao sneaks his  Pocari  out of the cooler.

 

5\. The Parasol

 

  When Midorima shows up at his house on a Sunday morning, Takao is first surprised, then gleefully delighted, then bemoaning Oha-asa for suggesting to Midorima that bolting down a parasol onto the  rearcart  would be a good idea.

  "Do I look like a handyman to you, Shin-chan?" he asks Midorima as they drag the rearcart into the shade of the Takao residence backyard. He knows Midorima's answer before he even nods- Midorima, for his brilliant application of tactics on court, is an extraordinarily rigid teenager in his routines- and makes Midorima hand him the parasol before Midorima can spew one of his comically inappropriate answers again.

  It's a large parasol- Takao estimates a meter's length in radius when he first opens it. Needless to say, the parasol covered too little area when leaning on the sides of the rearcart, didn't stand upright long enough when propped in the center of the cart, and kept falling off when they wedged it on the backseat of Takao's bike. It wasn't until Takao's sister came around the backyard in the evening and told them, flatly, that she was a middle school student and even  _ she _  knew that gigantic parasols weren't meant to fit on rearcarts or bikes did Midorima give in sullenly.

  "I thought I could use the shade," he mutters, and Takao laughs about it for days after.

 

6\. The Air Conditioner 

 

  "Might as well add cool air to the palanquin, Shin-chan," Takao snorts heartily one morning at morning assembly.

  He doesn't laugh quite so loudly when Midorima turns up at his house the next Sunday with the dreaded toolbox and a new-fangled, sleek looking machine that Takao has only seen on television commercials.

  "Air conditioning," Midorima smirks self- satisfiedly  when Takao hastily  informs him that high school students like him normally had zero idea about wiring. He makes Takao cycle the whole package, foam packing and surprisingly lightweight machine, back to the Midorima residence when Takao finally admits that he was a member of those technologically challenged high school students.

(Then Takao goes online, and finds that that new-fangled machine could run on batteries.)

 

7\. The Ancient-Looking Instrument 

 

  "I'm," Takao yawns luxuriously, "not awake enough," Midorima looks drowsily irritated at Takao's declarations of fatigue, "for this, Shin-chan. Might," Takao glances at his phone mid-yawn, "run into something. Justified." He finds that one couldn't keep their eyes properly open during a yawn, and so checks his phone's display once his mouth is properly closed, "'s three sixty-eight  a.m.  What?"

  "It's seven minutes to six in the morning, you idiot," Midorima mutters, voice too dull for any bite, as Takao blinks confusedly at his phone. "Hurry up, or we'll be late for practice and Miyaji-senpai," Takao catches the shudder in Midorima's voice even when half-lucid, "Miyaji-senpai will get angry."

  "They say the early bird catches the worm," Takao mutters, mentally forcing his legs to step on the pedals. He was willing to bet his trading card collection that he'd have the strongest legs out of all the high school basketball players after all this pedaling. "What're we hunting, oh great lord Shin-chan?"

  "Shut up," Midorima grumbles, and they move forward in blissful silence before Midorima breaks it with a lengthy explanation on how to choose lucky items. Takao tunes him out, managing to pick out something about power spots and ley lines out of Midorima's baritone drone before Midorima barks out a sudden 'stop' and Takao nearly cycles the cart into a lamppost. 

  They stop in front of a shop that looked like it belonged in a haunted house, and when Midorima strides into it like he's walking into a classroom, Takao has the urge to stop him. He tries to catch an extra  ten minutes of sleep instead, but Midorima was out in five.

  "Wuzzat ?" Takao mumbles sleepily when Midorima taps him impatiently on his back.

  Midorima snorts. Derisively. "A cat skin shamisen," he answers. Takao feels an unspoken 'uncultured plebeian' from him.

  "You're playing," Takao yawns again, "that thing today?" They drive over a manhole cover and Midorima starts violently, hugging the  shamisen  to himself protectively.

  "Drive  _carefully_ ," he hisses, chagrin carrying easily in the morning air. "This one's antique, and I'm just borrowing it for the day."

  Takao eyes the instrument warily. It certainly looked dusty enough. "So  _are_  you playing that?"

  Midorima pushes his glasses up his nose. He misjudges the force required, and shoves it into his eyes. Takao likes to think that his driving over the roadside grating helped. "I only play the piano," Midorima answers, eyes watering and still holding the  shamisen  closely to his chest. The instrument was unharmed.

  Takao spends the rest of the trip to morning practice driving over grates and manhole covers .

 

8\. The Piano

 

  Takao doesn't even know where the piano came from. It looked expensive enough, a glossy rich brown wood and a plushy piano bench. Midorima sitting haughtily on the bench completed the picture.

  Takao definitely doesn't know who got the idea into Midorima's head that a  _rearcart _ could carry a piano  _anywhere_ , let alone from school to the Midorima residence, but he pedals slowly there anyway .

  When Midorima's little sister comes out with all the grace of a queen and brightens impossibly upon seeing the piano, Takao feels it's all worth it.

  It's even more worth it when Midorima brightens a little too, like a table lamp in a dim room, and pats his little sister on the back.

 

9\. The Fan and The Fan

 

  They settle the problem of cool air on the  rearcart  when the sun rises with them to practice. 

  Midorima brings an electric fan, batteries and clip and all, as well as the toolbox of doom . Takao brings the paper fan his sister bought him last year. They both meet at Saturday morning practice, each hiding their secret- Takao's in his sports bag, and Midorima's as his lucky item of the day. He doesn't explain when Takao spots the toolbox, but Takao knows, and Takao meets Midorima at the rearcart after practice and throws him the hand fan.

  "You just sit tight for a bit, Shin-chan," he says cheerfully, screwdriver already in his hands. "Takao-chan'll get this done in minutes."

  They get it done in seconds, when Midorima walks up to the rearcart and simply clips the fan on the other side of the drink rack.

  Midorima hands Takao a can of chilled shiruko and angles the fan towards him on the return trip, nonetheless.

  "I don't want you crashing into something while trying to fan yourself. Idiotic, of course, but with you," Midorima sniffs, when they get to the Midorima residence and Midorima pockets the paper fan discreetly, "one can never be too careful."

  Takao smiles.

 

10\. The Sopping Wet Ace

 

  One okonomiyaki meal wasn't long enough to get them dry, but they drag their tired bodies onto the bicycle and rickshaw respectively.

  "I'll do the pedaling," Takao murmurs, and Midorima slides into the rearcart.

  "You always do," he mutters, and they fall into silence. It's not an overly uncomfortable silence, but Takao still feels like throwing it off like one would kick away a blanket on a hot summer night.

  Surprisingly, Midorima breaks the silence first. "Takao."

  Takao stops at the red light at the intersection. "Yeah, Shin-chan?"

  "Get better."

  Takao taps his bicycle's handlebars. "It's dangerous to talk to the driver when the vehicle 's still in motion."

  Midorima ignored the chance to dissect the inaccurate analogy in favor of continuing his previous line of conversation. "Get better," he articulates, "and let's show them what we're made of."

  Takao blinks. He laughs, and the traffic lights turns green. "Shin-chan?" he begins, as the bicycle's motion raises a gentle breeze.

  "What, Takao?"

  Takao tries his best to sound utterly solemn, but he can't really keep the smile out of his voice."I always do."

 

11\. The Round-eyed Mascot

 

  Takao is all parts bemused when Midorima drags Kuroko onto the rearcart. "We're running late," Midorima commands imperiously, dumping the much smaller player onto the rearcart. " D rive ."

  Takao eyes Kuroko, and finds him as confused as he is. "Last time I checked, Shin-chan, Kuroko doesn't count as a mascot."

  "He'll have to do," Midorima snaps impatiently, getting into the rearcart himself. "Didn't I say we're running late?"

  "He's freaking _heavy_ , Shin-chan!"

  "Miyaji-senpai," Midorima declares with an air of great finality, and Kuroko watches them both dolefully as Takao hops onto the bicycle.

  " With all due respect,  you're a slave driver,  my noble lord Shin-chan," Takao groans, but he cycles the extra weight to the venue of their practice match and seats Kuroko on the bench amidst the glares of an incensed Miyaji and an amused Kimura. 

  They win the match, and when Midorima dashes off to offer more offerings to Oha-asa, Takao takes Kuroko to the nearest  Maji  Burger for lunch.

  "Sorry about that," he  apologises , quite sincerely, and it's not hard for him, no, having grudges against  recently  victorious opponents was for Shin-chan. For all he  knew  Kuroko could get grilled by his own version of terrifying senpai. "Shin-chan gets pretty worked up about these things sometimes. Most of the time," he corrects, when Kuroko arches an incredulous eyebrow at him over his deluxe vanilla milkshake.

  "He was like that in middle school, Takao-kun," Kuroko offers, and Takao nods understandingly while munching on his own fries. "I'd say he's a bit different now, though."

 "Pray tell."

  Kuroko falls silent for a while. "I'd like another vanilla milkshake."

 "I feel like I'm bribing someone," Takao mutters, loud enough for Kuroko to hear. But Takao has change to spare in his wallet, anyway, so he returns with another milkshake from the counter.

  Kuroko sips contently on his second milkshake."He really wasn't a person to thank people," he says, finally.

 

12\. The Magazine Rack

 

  "But doesn't the corner of the rearcart work just as well?"  Takao asks tiredly after afternoon practice when he sees the rack.

  "Do  _you_ put your magazines in a corner of your room?" Midorima retorts. He doesn't look taken aback at all when Takao nods slowly. "Well, you know what to do," he tells Takao, handing him the positively evil toolbox, and stalks off to wash his face.

  (Takao realizes what Midorima's trying to do when Miyaji wanders over later and casually-not-casually picks a magazine out of the rack and a can of shiruko out of the cooler.)

 

13\. The GPS 

 

  "No, I'm  _not _ biking you to Kyoto, Shin-chan," Takao informs Midorima flatly when he sees the new shiny device on his bike's handle and the artfully, but not subtly, placed travel brochure on Kyoto on the bicycle seat. "I'm not physically capable of that."

  (But he goes with Midorima on the bus ride to Kyoto anyway.)

 

14\. The Penguin

 

  "Shin-chan?" Takao groans as he cycles Midorima, the magazine and drink racks, the cooler, the electric fan and a very penguin to a friendly match with just about every high school team with a Skittles boy in it.

  "What is it?"

  Takao doesn't look at the penguin. Not properly, at least. He activates his Hawk Eye, because weren't there penguins that ate meat? "Can penguins survive in Tokyo weather?"

  Midorima chokes. From outrage at Takao's apparent stupidity, it seems, but really, Takao had to be sure. It doesn't seem so farfetched for Midorima to kidnap a penguin from a zoo for his daily lucky item. "It's a _plushie_ _,_ you moron," he splutters when he catches his breath.

  Oh. Well, Takao supposes, that works too.

 

15\. The Whiteboard

 

  He already has one in Midorima's locker, but Takao figures an extra one wouldn't hurt. It's his own contribution, so it wasn't some astronomically expensive gadget (Takao personally thinks one of those self-scrolling infinite space techy boards, like those he sees on his little sister's computer screen when she watches that magical girl show would be cool), but it's something he uses often, writing on it when Midorima leaves for practice before him or when it's Midorima's turn to keep the  rearcart .

  ('Please stop leaving those incredibly sappy messages on both boards,' Takao finds Midorima's neat handwriting on the board one day, when Takao manages to leave practice before Midorima.)

  (Takao put a giant, sappy smile on his face, draws a giant, sappy smiley face on the board, and skips back into the locker rooms to find Midorima.)

 

16 .  The Portable Television 

 

  Which, in Takao's opinion, looked awfully like the one in Death Note. It wasn't so small that it could be put in a packet of chips, of course, but it was quite small enough to be stowed on a rearcart.

  "We're going to have zero space on the palanquin, Shin-chan," he reminds Midorima, and Midorima gives him an thoughtful nod.

  The next day he finds Midorima clumsily installing a new corner shelf on the  rearcart .

  "Shin-chan, I meant to get rid of the  _cooler_ ," Takao tells him, barely holding in the sniggers, as he helps Midorima lug the blue box off the cart. "It's late autumn, we don't need it."

  "It feels strange without it," Midorima mumbles, sulkily moving the cooler away.

 

17\. The  Kotatsu

 

  "Are you trying to turn the rearcart into our second home, Shin-chan?" Takao whispers as he carries one side of the Midorima residence's kotatsu out of the Midorima's residence's storeroom on the second floor.

  "It's going to be cold when we stargaze tonight, you idiot," Midorima snaps, but he looks thoughtful as he starts hefting the table down the stairs. "The proposition sounds reasonable, however."

  Takao nearly slips down the stairs.

  (They use an electric mat instead, after they alarm Midorima's little sister enough to run out to see what was going on. Takao takes a bad picture of the night sky and a good picture of Midorima's face and mass texts it to Shuutoku and Kuroko.)

 

18\. The Map

 

  'No,' Takao writes on the whiteboard, 'I'm definitely not driving you to Kanagawa again either.'

 

19\. The Crate

 

  Takao ends up driving to Kanagawa nonetheless, when they run a trip to Kanagawa as part of their part-time job at Kimura's grocery shop.

  "Want me to drop you off somewhere?" Takao asks when Midorima points him onto the rearcart bicycle. Midorima shakes his head, and helps him load the two crates onto the rearcart.

  That, unfortunately, made the rearcart uncomfortably cramped, but Takao doesn't hear a thing from Midorima all the way to Kanagawa.

  "Kaijou has a practice match," Takao tells him when they are two streets away from the school. "With Touou."

  "If I see that insufferable monkey," Midorima mutters, and Takao drives on laughing.

  "Need to buy something?" Takao asks when they pass an antique shop. There's a little display of relatively cheap little things outside, though Takao is sure Midorima can afford anything (and probably everything) in the shop.  "Some of these look like they'd make good items."

  "The energy doesn't feel good here," Midorima sniffs. "Get going, you're delaying the delivery." Takao shrugs and rides on.

  "Really getting nothing?" Takao inquires one last time when they deliver the last crate to the last house. The little boy opening the door howls with laughter when he sees the rearcart, and when Midorima glares him away Takao gives the boy a smile.

  "Shut up and  _drive_ _,_ " Midorima snaps, but his face is red. "Oha-asa said a long trip would be beneficial to Cancers today."

  "Suuure, Shin-chan," Takao answers. His heart beats alarmingly faster.

 

20\. The Rest Of Shuutoku

 

  "Just for today," Midorima says, pushing up his glasses imperiously and getting into the rearcart.

  "You won the rock-paper-scissors match, of course you'd say that," Kimura grumbles in stage whisper as he tries edges away from the drink rack.

  "Shin-chan, I won," Takao chirps, exuberantly cheerful, as he squeezes onto the cart and Miyaji throws his best intimidating stare at  Ootsubo , who tries to smile placatingly.

  "I guess you have terrible luck, Miyaji,"  Oostubo tries to console him as the other three try to make as much space as possible for their captain. Miyaji grumbles something unintelligible as he gets on the bike.

  "Alright, I lost," Miyaji growls.  Ootsubo  stuffs his bag into the very limited space available onto the rearcart, which creaks alarmingly. "Where to, dear passengers?"

  "Shuutoku High School," Kimura says.

  "The gymnasium, specifically," Midorima adds.

  "Through the front gate, it's the shortest way," Takao pipes up, and grins innocently when Miyaji turns to snarl at him.

  "It's graduation day, let him off the hook a bit,"  Ootsubo  murmurs complacently, still trying to wiggle out more space, and the other three nod furiously in agreement.

  "All for the memories," Kimura says. "Last day of high school, all that jazz."

  "I'll make your freaking  _cart_  a memory," Miyaji mutters vindictively. He starts pedaling, nonetheless, and when they get to Shuutoku's front gates, he holds his head high and smiles winningly at all the people staring.

  "If Miyaji-san smiles like that all the time, he might get a lot more girls," Takao shouts over the voices of the milling crowds. The rearcart chooses the opportune moment of Miyaji turning around to return fire to splinter and break, and within seconds they are all laughing in various states of humiliation.

  "We'd best get going," Kimura gasps as he pulls a rapidly inhaling Ootsubo up and Miyaji clumsily detaches the bike from the wreckage.  "See you after the ceremony."

  "You have wood in your hair, Kimura-san," Takao shouts as soon as he catches his breath. Kimura waves back. "Oh hey, Shin-chan, you alright?"

  "I live," Midorima says wryly, picking himself delicately out of the wreckage. "The cart, though."

  "Pity it broke," Takao agrees, picking splinters out of his book bag. "Fun while it lasted. It's your cart, really, so it's not actually my problem- but what do you want to do with it?"

  Midorima looks distinctly thoughtful. "Have someone sweep it up."

  "That'll probably be me," Takao nods.

  "And then-" Midorima pauses, almost hesitant, "I think I will have to purchase a new one."

  "Doesn't duo-biking sound good?" Takao interrupts hastily. 

  Midorima ponders. "Sounds good," he concedes.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Ooh am I late. Like, an entire week late. The challenge was last week.  
> Anyway hope you enjoyed!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Connect to You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1709825) by [sugarby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarby/pseuds/sugarby)




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